Astylla
Disney Fanatic
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2011
- Messages
- 2,792
Hi all. Just returned from a weekend at DLR/Brea area for a wedding and quick Disney trip. Had so many fun things happen and both Friday and Saturday were Grad Nites so wanted to offer some feedback!
We left the Bay area about 6am Friday and checked into our hotel which was Embassy Suites in Brea , CA - only about a 10 minute drive to Disneyland.
This was the hotel because of a wedding we attended on Sunday and it was just lovely. Checked in early at 12:30pm , got a great room , no parking fees , free large buffet breakfast and right across from Brea Mall and lots of restaurants within walking distance. My husband particularly enjoyed the Koi fish pond too, lol.
I can't recommend this hotel highly enough and honestly I enjoyed being off the beaten path. We will be back for subsequent Disney trips.
We went to Slater's 50/50 Anaheim Hills at 1pm for lunch before arriving at the parks around 2:30pm. It was noticeably busy as we started in DCA and we noticed it was a Grad Nite. DH wanted to make sure I could see the Maleficent trailer so we did that first. AWESOME. NEED TO SEE IT. Managed to ride Little Mermiad - loved the changes here also ; and of course did RSR single rider which we still ended up in the same car front to back with only a 20 minute wait.
Yes it was busy and crowded versus what we are used to , however this was our first peak season trip in quite awhile. It wasn't unbearable by any means just hectic and while some of the grads were excited and loud , no bad behavior , pushing or profanity was witnessed and we passed by ALOT of them. It was a fun half day for us.
Saturday was our only full Disney day we had available and grabbed breakfast at the hotel then made rope drop for DL. It was a rough start morning for Disneyland I will admit. BTMRR , HM , Matterhorn , Indy were ALL down at once. As AP holders we shrugged it off and laughed and hit up Splash with a minimal wait , Winnie the Pooh and circled back shortly to find all of them running within 2 hours , however I imagine it made for a rough start to the day.
I just have to say..I LOVE THE CHANGES TO BTMRR. SO worth the wait. My only complaint is we only got a chance to ride it once..LOL.
Crowds definitely picked up early around noon - Although all passes were blocked ( outside Premium/Premier) there were early arrival grads , dance groups ,school groups and tour groups all which added up. We decided to grab lunch at Village Haus since we never had eaten there before. Food was great. Hubby got the pizza which he loved and I got a burger.
Now here is where timing is everything. I was 3/4 done with my meal when out of the corner of my eye I notice someone who I assumed was in a really good Anna Disney-bounding outfit..then I realized..it was ACTUALLY ANNA AND ELSA passing us by on the way to the meet and greet. It was really awesome and we missed the three hour wait hah.
We did some stuff in Tomorrowland then I passed by someone with the same Frozen inspired shirt I had bought and was wearing and can be seen here : http://www.teefury.com/gallery/3065/By_Royal_Decree/
Two complete strangers pointed at each other all excited and high fived each other..was a really funny yet awesome moment
We also made last minute Blue Bayou reservations and requested a water side table - and we were seated before our reservation water side - awesome. Food was wonderful as always though poor DH paid for it later..something didn't agree with him so we made it an early night later on.
Funny moment of dinner though - some adult in the boats was teasing a younger child about the diners basically suggesting we were animatronic so suddenly the little kid yells out "Hey Are you guys real?" - It was so adorable and hilarious.
It started getting really busy as more grads arrived but we spent several more hours in DCA that night , got some ice cream on Paradise Pier and watched Screamin' over California since wait times for it were nearing an hour go and did Mater's Jamboree which was only 5 minutes before heading out.
We only got a half day Monday before driving home but grabbed Soarin fast passes and then got RSR done again around 10am - single rider was about a 30 minute wait and though separated ( as we expect to be ) - we got to race each other for once..and I won
We then did Screamin with only a 10 minute wait , Golden Zephyr with no wait and headed back to Soarin. In the Soarin line we met this really nice couple celebrating their 35th anniversary. We started talking because DH was checking the Mousewait app and the gentleman asked us about it. We then started talking and found they used ti live in Florida just like me and the wife gave us two hidden mickey WDW pins - which was really sweet ! We got to ride in the front row all together so that was fun. Only annoying part..a foreign tour group was about 90% of this ride group and kept taking flash photos during the ride. Poor DH was catching it all due to being on the edge. Unfortunately it was very apparent there was a language barrier and I hope it didn't ruin it too much for first time riders.
One last funny thing - we happened to notice one of DH's friends updated his Facebook that he and his new wife were there too. They had matching shirts and my DH joked it should be easy to spot them. Well after we finished lunch at Hungry Bear - and omg the bumblebee cupcake is the most amazing thing ever - we walked past HM and I said.."hey..isn't that your friend ??" - It sure was..small world indeed !
It was a really great trip. It was warm though - mid 80's all day which meant crowding caused it to feel much worse. Had some great things happen , new memories as always. Got to meet some very cool people as we typically do and as always can't wait to go back already.
We left the Bay area about 6am Friday and checked into our hotel which was Embassy Suites in Brea , CA - only about a 10 minute drive to Disneyland.
This was the hotel because of a wedding we attended on Sunday and it was just lovely. Checked in early at 12:30pm , got a great room , no parking fees , free large buffet breakfast and right across from Brea Mall and lots of restaurants within walking distance. My husband particularly enjoyed the Koi fish pond too, lol.
I can't recommend this hotel highly enough and honestly I enjoyed being off the beaten path. We will be back for subsequent Disney trips.
We went to Slater's 50/50 Anaheim Hills at 1pm for lunch before arriving at the parks around 2:30pm. It was noticeably busy as we started in DCA and we noticed it was a Grad Nite. DH wanted to make sure I could see the Maleficent trailer so we did that first. AWESOME. NEED TO SEE IT. Managed to ride Little Mermiad - loved the changes here also ; and of course did RSR single rider which we still ended up in the same car front to back with only a 20 minute wait.
Yes it was busy and crowded versus what we are used to , however this was our first peak season trip in quite awhile. It wasn't unbearable by any means just hectic and while some of the grads were excited and loud , no bad behavior , pushing or profanity was witnessed and we passed by ALOT of them. It was a fun half day for us.
Saturday was our only full Disney day we had available and grabbed breakfast at the hotel then made rope drop for DL. It was a rough start morning for Disneyland I will admit. BTMRR , HM , Matterhorn , Indy were ALL down at once. As AP holders we shrugged it off and laughed and hit up Splash with a minimal wait , Winnie the Pooh and circled back shortly to find all of them running within 2 hours , however I imagine it made for a rough start to the day.
I just have to say..I LOVE THE CHANGES TO BTMRR. SO worth the wait. My only complaint is we only got a chance to ride it once..LOL.
Crowds definitely picked up early around noon - Although all passes were blocked ( outside Premium/Premier) there were early arrival grads , dance groups ,school groups and tour groups all which added up. We decided to grab lunch at Village Haus since we never had eaten there before. Food was great. Hubby got the pizza which he loved and I got a burger.
Now here is where timing is everything. I was 3/4 done with my meal when out of the corner of my eye I notice someone who I assumed was in a really good Anna Disney-bounding outfit..then I realized..it was ACTUALLY ANNA AND ELSA passing us by on the way to the meet and greet. It was really awesome and we missed the three hour wait hah.
We did some stuff in Tomorrowland then I passed by someone with the same Frozen inspired shirt I had bought and was wearing and can be seen here : http://www.teefury.com/gallery/3065/By_Royal_Decree/
Two complete strangers pointed at each other all excited and high fived each other..was a really funny yet awesome moment
We also made last minute Blue Bayou reservations and requested a water side table - and we were seated before our reservation water side - awesome. Food was wonderful as always though poor DH paid for it later..something didn't agree with him so we made it an early night later on.
Funny moment of dinner though - some adult in the boats was teasing a younger child about the diners basically suggesting we were animatronic so suddenly the little kid yells out "Hey Are you guys real?" - It was so adorable and hilarious.
It started getting really busy as more grads arrived but we spent several more hours in DCA that night , got some ice cream on Paradise Pier and watched Screamin' over California since wait times for it were nearing an hour go and did Mater's Jamboree which was only 5 minutes before heading out.
We only got a half day Monday before driving home but grabbed Soarin fast passes and then got RSR done again around 10am - single rider was about a 30 minute wait and though separated ( as we expect to be ) - we got to race each other for once..and I won
We then did Screamin with only a 10 minute wait , Golden Zephyr with no wait and headed back to Soarin. In the Soarin line we met this really nice couple celebrating their 35th anniversary. We started talking because DH was checking the Mousewait app and the gentleman asked us about it. We then started talking and found they used ti live in Florida just like me and the wife gave us two hidden mickey WDW pins - which was really sweet ! We got to ride in the front row all together so that was fun. Only annoying part..a foreign tour group was about 90% of this ride group and kept taking flash photos during the ride. Poor DH was catching it all due to being on the edge. Unfortunately it was very apparent there was a language barrier and I hope it didn't ruin it too much for first time riders.
One last funny thing - we happened to notice one of DH's friends updated his Facebook that he and his new wife were there too. They had matching shirts and my DH joked it should be easy to spot them. Well after we finished lunch at Hungry Bear - and omg the bumblebee cupcake is the most amazing thing ever - we walked past HM and I said.."hey..isn't that your friend ??" - It sure was..small world indeed !
It was a really great trip. It was warm though - mid 80's all day which meant crowding caused it to feel much worse. Had some great things happen , new memories as always. Got to meet some very cool people as we typically do and as always can't wait to go back already.
